Former hostages, bereaved families demand Netanyahu open October 7 state probe

Marking 800 days since they were abducted, 22 former hostages on Sunday demanded the government either establish a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, or resign.

The demand, made in a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was also signed by dozens of members of 49 hostages’ families, some of whose loved ones were killed in captivity.

“We call on the government of Israel to stop evading, stop procrastinating, stop whitewashing and to immediately establish a full state commission of inquiry,” read the missive, which was put together by the October Council, a group of families of October 7 victims.

The public campaign for the commission “will only escalate in the coming days,” said the group.

The commission would need to “investigate all aspects of that day, including the collapse of the defense and intelligence arrays, the cries for help that went unanswered, the abandonment of [Gaza] border communities for hours on end, and the abandonment of civilians and soldiers to the inferno that unfolded within the State of Israel,” the letter read.

“But no less than that, it must investigate what happened after October 7,” it added. “Decision-making in the negotiations for the hostages’ return, the reasons for the repeated delays, the coordination between the political and military establishments, the statements and actions of all public officials and their effect on the lives of the hostages, their medical and psychological condition, the fates of those who were kidnapped alive and murdered in captivity, and the long time that passed until the slain hostages were returned to their families.”

“We demand the truth. We demand justice. We demand accountability,” the missive said. “If you don’t intend to take responsibility and establish such a commission — as demanded by the majority of the nation — then resign and let the nation decide” via elections.

The signatories of the letter included Ariel Cunio, one of the final 20 living hostages released on October 13 this year under the current ceasefire-hostage deal.

Other signatories were Cunio’s partner Arbel Yehoud, who was released in January under the previous ceasefire, and three others released under the same agreement: Ohad Ben Ami, Gadi Mozes and Yarden Bibas, whose wife Shiri and two young sons Ariel and Kfir were murdered in captivity.

Also signed were Luis Har and Fernando Marman, who were rescued by the IDF in February 2024; as well as Marman’s sisters Clara Marman, who is Har’s partner, and Gabriele Leimberg, whose daughter was also abducted and who were all released in the weeklong truce-hostage deal of November 2023.

The 13 other hostages who signed the letter were also released in that deal, which took place weeks after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that started the war: Ben Ami’s wife Raz; Cunio’s sister-in-law Sharon, whose husband and two young daughters were also abducted; Sharon’s sister Daniel, whose young daughter was also abducted; Amit Soussana; Yaffa Adar; Ditza Heiman; Margalit Mozes; Karen Munder, whose son and mother were also abducted and released and whose father was killed in captivity; Raaya Rotem, whose daughter was also abducted; Noralin Babadilla, whose husband was murdered on the October 7 attack; and mother and daughter Chen Goldstein Almog and Agam Goldstein.

The former hostages who signed the missive were all residents of the kibbutzim near the Gaza border that were ravaged in the Hamas onslaught.

Among the dozens of members of hostage families who also signed the missive were Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was murdered in captivity; and Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was released in the current hostage deal, and who spearheaded anti-government protests in the campaign for his return.

The family of the last hostage whose body has not been returned from Gaza, Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, did not sign the letter.

Netanyahu has rejected a state commission of inquiry — Israel’s highest investigative authority — saying it would be biased against him because it is led by the judiciary, which the government has been seeking to weaken. In lieu of a state commission, the cabinet voted last month to establish its own probe, whose scope will be determined by government ministers.

Opinion polls have consistently shows a strong majority of Israelis support a state commission of inquiry.